[334] SCIENCE OLYMPIAD, EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE, ONE KID AT A TIME

Release date: Feb. 26, 2009


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
Science Olympiad contacts: Dr. Pat Patterson, 615-898-5085, 615-869-9984 (cell)
Dr. Amy Phelps, 615-898-2077, 615-516-0377 (cell)


SCIENCE OLYMPIAD, EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE, ONE KID AT A TIME
MTSU Hosts 15th Annual Competition Feb. 28 for 17 Middle Schools, 14 High Schools

(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU will host its 15th Regional Science Olympiad Saturday, Feb. 28, continuing a tradition of “trying to expand kids’ knowledge of science,” director Dr. Pat Patterson says.
Science Olympiad was founded by Dr. Gerard Putz of Macomb County Intermediate School in Michigan in 1982 and patterned on an event that took place in Delaware. It was expanded to a national event in 1985, and this year marks its 25th national anniversary.
The event was started to create a passion for learning science in kindergarten through 12th-grade students and change the way the students perceive science.
“We are trying to put the same kind of flavor in kids’ mouths (for science) that they have for sports,” says Patterson, a chemistry professor at MTSU.
In all, the organization hosted 14,000 schools at events nationwide last year.
At this year’s MTSU Olympiad, 17 middle and 14 high schools will compete in 23 events. The all-day event begins and ends in the McWherter Learning Resources Center, with awards starting around 3:30 p.m. Events will be held across the campus.
The top six teams in each division will go to Knoxville for the state tournament. The top two teams from each division at that tournament will go to the national tournament at Augusta (Ga.) State University.
Bruce Ross of the Murfreesboro Water Department has a long history with the event. Ross participated in 1985 as a senior at Glencliff High School in Nashville. Glencliff went to the state tournament and was one of two teams to go to the national tournament in Michigan. The team took third place in the computer-programming competition.
Although he’d already decided to make science his career, Ross says the Science Olympiad tournament had an impact on his studies.
“It made learning in science a lot more fun,” says Ross, who is a volunteer for the event each year. “I just enjoy seeing the kids doing what I did 20 years ago.”


Competing high school (Division C) teams include Franklin’s Battle Ground Academy; Blackman; Cannon County (Woodbury); Dayspring Academy; Franklin; Harpeth Hall Teams A and B; Hume-Fogg Teams A and B; Martin Luther King Academic Magnet High School; Montgomery Bell Academy; Riverdale; Siegel; and Smyrna.
Competing middle school teams (Division B) include Cason Lane Academy; Columbia’s E.A. Cox Middle School Teams A and B; Harpeth Hall; Martin Luther King Academic Magnet School; Montgomery Bell Academy Teams A and B; Sigel; Smyrna Middle School Teams A and B; St. Bernard Academy Teams A and B; St. Pius X Classical Academy; St. Rose of Lima Catholic School; and Stewarts Creek Middle School Teams A and B.
For more information on the competition, contact Patterson at 615-898-5085.


For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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